þem

See also: them

Middle English

Alternative forms

• them

Etymology 1

From Old Norse þeim.

Pronoun

þem (nominative þei)

1. Third-person plural accusative pronoun: them
   • 1430–1440, “II. Playsterers. The Creation, to the Fifth Day.”, in Lucy Toulmin Smith, editor, York Plays: The Plays Performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York on the Day of Corpus Christi in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries: […], Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, published 1885, →OCLC, page 9, lines 17–20:

     Þe water I will set / to flowe bothe fare and nere, / And þhan þe firmament, / in mydis to set þame sere.

     The water I will set / to flow both far and near, / And then the firmament, / in their midst to set them sere [separately].

2. (reflexive) themselves

Alternative forms

• þeim, þeime, þeym, þeyme, þeme, þaim, þaime, þaym, þayme, þam, þame, þeȝȝm
• þaem, yem, yam, yame, yham (Northern)
• yem, yam, yame, yham (northeast Midland)
• taim, taym, tam (Northern, after t or d)

Descendants

• English: them, thame
• Scots: thaim, them

See also

• hem

References

• “theim, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Determiner

þem

1. (Southwest) Alternative form of þan (“the, that, this”)

Etymology 3

Noun

þem (plural þemes)

1. Alternative form of teme (“family, tribe”)

Etymology 4

Noun

þem (third-person singular simple present þemeþ, present participle þemende, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle þemed)

1. Alternative form of temen (“to produce offspring”)